Quick attaching couplers have been developed to allow faster attachment of three point hitches to rear mounted implements. A quick attaching coupler may be an inverted U-shape arch that is attached to the conventional three points of a tractor hitch. The frame of a quick attaching coupler may have an upper hook with a long, tapered point and two lower coupling hooks or jaws with a latching and unlatching arrangement to hold the implement hitch pins. To hook up the quick attaching coupler to an implement, the hitch may be lowered and the tractor or similar vehicle backed into place near the implement. Then the hitch may be raised with the hydraulic system so that the upper hook engages the upper pin on the implement. Further lifting causes the weight of the implement to force the lower hitch pins to enter the lower hooks.
The tractor operator then may lock each of the latches to secure the implement hitch pins to the hooks. The latches may be spring loaded to the locked or latched position. To lock each latch to the implement, the operator must dismount the operator station or tractor seat to manually operate two locking mechanisms for the two hitch pins of the implement.
Similarly, to unhitch an implement from a quick attach coupler, the tractor operator must leave the operator station or tractor seat to manually release the spring loaded latches. Once the latches are released, the hitch may be lowered until the implement is on the ground. Then, after the hitch is lowered further, the two lower hooks and the upper hook disengage from the implement and the tractor can be driven away.
Tractors may be equipped with a power take off (PTO) drive that provides a means for transmitting rotary power from the engine to implements that are coupled to a tractor. The most common location for the PTO shaft is at the rear of the tractor, but some tractors have auxiliary PTO shafts at other locations. The direction of rotation, rotational speed, approximate location and exact dimensions of the PTO shaft are standardized to provide ability to interchange between power shafts on various implements made by different manufacturers. PTO shafts typically rotate at 540 rpm, 1000 rpm, or both speeds.
To engage the PTO shaft to the power shaft of a rear mounted implement, the, the PTO shaft may have the ability to telescope. After the tractor is in proper position, the tractor operator may manually extend the telescoping PTO shaft and employ various locking devices to engage the PTO shaft to the implement power shaft. This requires getting down off the seat or operator station of the tractor, and it can be quite difficult and time consuming to engage the power take off.
A need exists for an apparatus and method for latching a quick attach coupler from the operator seat of the tractor. A need also exists for engaging a power take off on a tractor to a rear mounted implement, while seated on the tractor. There is a need for an apparatus and method that may be used for a variety of different implements having power shafts at different locations relative to the tractor PTO. There is a need for an apparatus and method that will allow a tractor to be hooked up to non-PTO powered Category 1 implements without removing the quick attach coupler or hitch from the tractor. There is a need for an apparatus and method that will allow hooking up a tractor to PTO driven rear mounted implements without requiring the operator to leave the tractor seat. There is a need for an apparatus and method to hook up, from the seat of the tractor, both PTO powered and non-PTO powered implements. There is a need for greater operator safety and ease of use when hooking up a tractor to a rear mounted implement.